Iberdrola builds huge wind farm in US

March 5, 2012

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola has completed one of the world's biggest wind farms in the US state of Ohio, which will produce more than 300 megawatts of power, it said on Monday.

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola has completed one of the world's biggest wind farms in the US state of Ohio, which will produce more than 300 megawatts of power, it said on Monday.

Iberdrola "has completed construction of the Blue Creek wind farm in the United States, one of the largest such facilities in the world with installed capacity of 304 megawatts", it said in a statement.

The farm has more than 150 huge 100-metre-high wind turbines, manufactured by Spanish firm Gamesa, which can produce enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes.

"Iberdrola has previously signed a power purchase agreement with the US firm FirstEnergy Solutions Corp for the energy generated by this facility over the next 20 years," it said.

The company said it had also started building a 189-megawatt wind farm near Rosamond, California.

Shares in Spain's Gamesa, one of the world's top wind turbine makers, closed sharply higher Tuesday after it announced a new contract with a Chinese firm that is part of a surge in clear energy investments in China.

Iberdrola is one of the biggest wind power companies in the world. They are able to provide wind power at lower cost than most competitors because of their size. Small wonder they built the Ohio facility, they had the best bid.

They are planning to put up 10Gw of wind generation in the next few years. They also use local companies and labor to assemble, provide maintenance, etc.

I just don't see a real connection between Rush Limbaugh and the fact that a Spanish company built this instead of an American one.

313,126,000 people and all are ignorant because of the few who listen to Beck and Limbaugh? I don't think so.

Energy companies been building wind farms, biofuel, and solar for years.

I am wondering who is going to drive around in the rechargeable golf cart picking up the dead birds. I thought that vertical axis systems were on the scene a long time ago and to scale it is more affordable. Just a thought...

Wind-farms, especially in the US, do not get subsidies. They get tax breaks (in the US this takes the form of the PTC) but so do all energy sources. The tax breaks that wind gets are insignificant compared to the tax breaks and government funding that oil and nuclear have received over the years. This idea that wind is unfairly subsidised is nonsense. You can make that argument with any energy source.

I don't care. If subsidies or governments are required to get the right things done, then so be it. Energy security for our future will require a variety of sources and technologies. "Oops!" will be an unacceptable response if we fail to provide for the future energy needs of our respective nations.

The idea that Glen or Rush have any influence concerning national energy policies especially when their opposition is in power is just silly.

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1) allows taxpayers eligible for the federal renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC) to take the federal business energy investment tax credit (ITC) or to receive a grant from the U.S. Treasury Department instead of taking the PTC for new installations. The grant is only available to systems where construction began prior to December 31, 2011. The new law also allows taxpayers eligible for the business ITC to receive a grant from the U.S. Treasury Department instead of taking the business ITC for new installations. The Treasury Department issued Notice 2009-52 in June 2009, giving limited guidance on how to take the federal business energy investment tax credit instead of the federal renewable electricity production tax credit."A tax credit is the same as a grant, free money.

"The biggest oil company subsidy amounting to $1.7 billion per year for the oil industry is a manufacturers tax deduction that is explained in Section 199 of the IRS code. This is a tax credit designed to keep manufacturing in the U.S., but it isnt limited to oil companies. It is a tax credit enjoyed by ethanol companies (have you ever heard anyone call it an ethanol subsidy?), computer companies (we are subsidizing Microsoft and Google!) and foreign companies that operate factories in the U.S."http://www.consum...onmobil/

"In a nutshell, a large chunk of Big Oils subsidies are the same as those of Big Ethanol (which also has direct per gallon subsidies), Big Computer (Microsoft, Google, etc.), Big Auto, Big Pharmaceutical, and all the other industries large and small. They are not like their subsidies, they are in most cases the exact same tax deductions from the same tax code. The oil industry already pays an estimated $36 billion per year in U.S. taxes, and they have a higher tax rate than that of Microsoft or Google both companies with higher profit margins than those of the oil industry."http://www.consum...onmobil/How much tax is collected from wind farms?

Upon reflection perhaps I should clarify... I do care how public money is spent. I also know that some projects and market changes require the influence of public money and public policies because they are sinply too big or important to wait for market supply and demand to eventually accomplish.

While there will always be issues like Solendra, that doesn't mean we should stop trying. We should instead do a better job of ensuring monies are used less for political purposes and more for the advancement of techologies and production - with an eye on ensuring the companies involved aren't abusing public largess.

One option is to ensure that companies can only receive public help if they haven't contributed politically in 4-5 years or so, as long as it's greater than an election cycle. If a financially troubled company is contributing to a political group or committee rather than investing in their company and people in my opinion they are poorly managed in the first place.

too big or important to wait for market supply and demand to eventually accomplish.

When has govt responded faster than the market?Utilities are govt regulated industries. How long did it take for the govt to change laws to allow homeowners to sell power back to the grid?Market forces had created solar panels, batteries, inverters for home use, but govt interference slowed their implementation.

"Market forces had created solar panels, batteries, inverters for home use, but govt interference slowed their implementation."

Explain how this is so please. Couldn't anyone buy solar panels the day they were made? Why not?

High costs almost always follow energy innovations, with the prices going down as economies of scale and manufacturing effiencies take hold.

If not for the tax credits that I personally get this year, I would not have installed my solar panels, or my wind generator. They would have cost too much. Thank you government.

There has never been a law restricting sell-back of electricity to a utility to my knowledge. The hurdle has been the technology on the part of the utility distribution system. It is not designed to do this easily.

Several utilities have actually lobbied Congress to restrict the buyback so they don't have to put money into upgrading their transformers, meters, etc. Dispicable.